La aplicación de la teoría del procesamiento de información social al problema del maltrato físico a niños

Resumen

Este artículo describe un modelo de procesamiento de información social que resume los factores cognitivos que se suponen relacionados con los malos tratos físicos a niños. Guiado por la teoría cognitiva-conductual, el modelo contiene tres etapas cognitivas y una cuarta etapa cognitiva-conductal. Se cree que las tres primeras etapas cognitivas sirven para mediar en el comportamiento de los padres (en la cuarta etapa), que incluye la agresión verbal y física. Se describe el papel del procesamiento automático y del procesamiento controlado de la información relacionada con el niño. Siguiendo las especificaciones de los componentes del modelo y los procesos relacionados, se discuten los posibles efectos de los factores de personalidad y del estrés sobre el procesamiento de información social. Se describen brevemente las implicaciones del modelo de procesamiento de información social en la evaluación y el tratamiento de los padres que maltratan físicamente.

Abstract

This article describes a social information processing model that summarizes cognitive factors thought to be related to physical child abuse. Guided by cognitive-behavioural theory, the model contains three cognitive stages and a fourth cognitive-behavioural stage. The first three cognitive stages are believed to mediate parenting behaviour (at stage four), which includes verbal and physical aggression. The roles of automatic and controlled processing of child-related information are described. Following specification of the model's components and related processes, the possible effects of personality factors and stress on social information processing are discussed. Implications of the social information processing model for the assessment and treatment of physically abusive parents are briefly described.

Extended Summary

This paper presents a social information processing model that is used to organize and describe cognitive factors thought to be related to parental physical child abuse. Guided by existing cognitive-behavioural paradigms, the model proposes three cognitive stages and a fourth cognitive-behavioural stage. The three cognitive stages include: perceptions of social behaviour; interpretations, evaluations, and expectations that give meaning to social behaviours; and information integration and response selection. Cognitive activities at these three stages are thought to mediate events at a fourth cognitive-behavioural stage, which involves response implementation (child-directed behaviour) and response monitoring.

The proposed model suggests that the cognitive activities at each of the information processing stages can be impacted by existing information structures, such as preexisting beliefs about children (e.g., all children are bad and intentionally cause their parents problems). The concepts of automatic and controlled processing are used to describe how activities at the different cognitive stages may interact. For example, automatic processing may result in some processing stages being skipped. In such a case, punishment might be administered to a child who is viewed as bad before it is determined that she/he is responsible for some negative event (broken mirror). The model also suggests that a number of personality characteristics (e.g., anxiety, depression), behaviours (e.g., drug use), and environmental factors (e.g., stress) can impact social information processing at any of the proposed stages.

Following presentation of the social information processing model, a description of the research literature supporting the model components is provided. Research related to the impact of personality and environmental factors on information processing is discussed. Problems with the research supporting the model and areas where additional research is needed are also mentioned. Finally, a brief discussion of the implications of the social information processing model for the assessment and treatment of physically abusive parents is provided.

Palabras clave:

• Maltrato físico
• procesamiento de información
• modelos cognitivo-conductuales

Keywords:

• Physical maltreatment
• information processing
• cognitive-behavioural models